Suchergebnisse

Abstract
This article addresses the impact of closed and flexible candidate lists on the representativeness of the lower house of the Czech Parliament from 1996 to 2021. Specifically, the paper explores representativeness according to gender, profession, residence, education, age and political experience. The effectiveness of preferential votes has manifested only since the electoral reform in 2010, mainly in the representativeness of women. Other monitored variables had a more pronounced influence, mainly in 2010 and 2013, when various citizen initiatives called for a change in the existing political set, and the new political parties disrupted the party system. Or when the voters of the PirStan coalition preferred the candidates of the STAN at the expense of the candidates of the Pirates in 2021.

The paper explores two avenues to the union of the believer with God in Thomas Aquinas inspired by Pseudo-Dionysius the Areopagite; namely, the intellectual union in faith through the gift of understanding and the union in charity as the basis for the knowledge associated with the gift of wisdom. The former amounts to an intellectual grasp of revealed truths without full understanding of the terms used (without the apprehension of the essences), yet with a clear understanding of what would be erroneous interpretations and meanings. The latter is an (quasi-)experimental knowledge of God based on connaturality with him due to the infused virtue of charity. Both kinds of knowledge or "mystical theology" are open to any believer in the state of sanctifying grace and are its effects.

AbstractThe paper explores the legislative unity of government and opposition blocs in the Czech Chamber of Deputies over a period of 20 years. As voting unity is usually rather low in the Czech Republic, temporarily high concentrations of votes by these blocs are linked to higher rates of conflict between the government and opposition. I use the Rice and UNITY indices to compare average unity scores of individual cabinets and also explorative time series of unity vectors in order to analyse bloc concentration, success rate, and increased conflict. The outcomes are relevant both as comprising a case study and methodological observations: (1) Broad differences in the logic of interaction are confirmed (e.g. caretaker cabinets show less conflict than standard cabinets). Although no universal trend (e.g. no transition from consensual to conflictual practice) is found, the Czech opposition became more concentrated and resorted to serial blocking tactics in the second decade; thus, a major change of behavior occurred after all. (2) The Rice and UNITY indices correlate considerably; UNITY's discrimination capacity is not distorted significantly despite the nature of equilibria in the Chamber. Moreover; the UNITY index is able to easily distinguish contested votes not detectable by the Rice index alone.

The paper explores the legislative unity of government and opposition blocs in the Czech Chamber of Deputies over a period of twenty years. As voting unity is usually rather low in the Czech Republic, temporarily high concentrations of the respective blocks' votes are linked to higher rates of conflict between the government and opposition. I use the Rice and UNITY indices to compare average unity scores of individual cabinets and also explorative time series of unity vectors in order to analyse bloc concentration, success rate, and increased conflict. The outcomes are relevant as both a case study and a methodological observation: (1) Broad differences in the logic of interaction are confirmed (e.g. caretaker cabinets show less conflict than standard cabinets). Although no universal trend (e.g. a transition from consensual to conflictual practice) is found, the Czech opposition became more concentrated and resorted to the tactics of serial blocking in the second decade; thus, a major change of behaviour occurred after all. (2) The Rice and UNITY indices correlate considerably; UNITY's discrimination capacity is not distorted significantly despite the nature of equilibria in the Chamber. Moreover; the UNITY index is able easily to distinguish contested votes which are not detectable by the Rice index alone.

Krouwel, A. 2012. Party Transformations in European Democracies. Albany: SUNY Press, 436 pages.

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This article addresses the candidate selection process for realistic list positions with regard to multiple-office holding and personal characteristics in flexible-list proportional representation (PR) systems within the Czech context. More specifically, this issue is explored in the 2006–2017 elections to the Czech Chamber of Deputies. Results of binary logistic regression analysis with observations clustered by party or constituency indicate that incumbents (with or without multiple office holding) stand a significantly higher probability of being selected as a realistic candidate. This probability increases only if the incumbent also has the regional mandate. The results also show that candidates with a PhD degree or higher, with a higher public office position, at the age of forty-one to fifty years, or with residence in a regional capital or in Prague have a significant probability of being selected as a realistic candidate. A specific gender bias was also found.

Abstract
Following identification of the areas of electoral support for the ruling parties since 1996 and subsequent analysis of the selection of ministers by each party, it was found that centre-right parties nominated more ministers from their areas of electoral support, mainly from Prague and other large cities. On the other hand, left-wing parties nominated ministers from similar areas to centre-right parties, even if they did not draw their electoral support from there. The Public Affairs party, which was established in Prague, nominated all its ministers from Prague, despite the fact that for the party it was not an area of electoral support. It is evident that, for the completion of a minister's mandate, it is not important whether he or she comes from an area of electoral support. Only TOP 09, the Greens and KDU-ČSL (1998 elections) used the nomination of ministers to maximise votes within electoral regions, which could be identified as areas of electoral support in the previous elections. On the other hand, with ODA and ANO 2011, ministers were used outside the territory of electoral support, which may be related to the improvement of the election result in regions where the party was not so successful.

Abstract
By means of a qualitative analysis of the sixteen municipalities in the Czech Republic in which additional elections were held in 2019, five variables were identified which may explain why additional elections occurred. For analysis, we used data from the Czech Statistical Office (municipal elections 1994 to 2019), the Ministry of Interior of the Czech Republic and information on individual municipalities from media analysis. We have identified the following possible variables which may affect whether additional elections are held: end of elites, non -stand as a candidate again, the end of municipal representatives, incumbent decides not to defend mandate (variable Non -defend mandate) and personal disputes within the municipality. Conversely, the financial situation of the municipality, the age of the representatives, the voter turnout in the municipality, the number of voters, the number of candidate lists or associations and candidates proved inconclusive in most municipalities. A significant increase in new candidates is a consequence rather than an explanation of the holding of additional elections.

Fortification structures, both military and civilian, are designed to resist a blast explosion to some extent. Their technical condition after a blast load must be assessed in a fast and reliable way to enable the users' decision about the future use of the structure. Preferably, for the assessment of the protective structure, the non-destructive testing method should be used. To assess the suitability of ultrasound testing method for fortification structures built from steel fiber reinforced concrete, an investigation in a laboratory and in situ was conducted, together with numerical simulation and statistical evaluation. The numerical simulation of the blast load of a steel fiber reinforced concrete slab was conducted using multiphysics simulation software with the aim to verify basic parameters of the field experiment. During the field tests, several slabs were loaded by plastic explosive and changes in the structure of the slabs, before and after the blast load, were examined using the ultrasound pass-through method. After the field tests, the slabs were subjected to a destructive laboratory test to determine their residual strength. Subsequently, the data sets obtained from the measurements were tested using functional data analysis. The results from the ultrasound pulse method show that specimens after a dynamic blast load can in some cases increase the strength of their cement matrix.

AbstractStructural change in the agricultural economy may result in the abandonment of agricultural buildings, creating rural brownfield sites. Since the fall of the Iron Curtain in 1989, post‐agricultural brownfields have become very common in Central and Eastern Europe. Our aim is to uncover and understand the reuse preferences for 16 reuse options, among 1275 survey respondents (local residents) from 272 rural communities with post‐agricultural brownfields in the Czech Republic. The influence of respondent status, the socioeconomic characteristics of those communities and environmental characteristics of communities were tested using redundancy analysis and variation partitioning. Three types of reuse were identified as most preferred among respondents: agricultural reuse, industrial reuse and reuse for housing, services and leisure time activities. We found strong and significant ties between the pattern of preferences for potential reuse options and demographic, community socioeconomic and environmental context variables. It can therefore be concluded that preferences for rural renewal tend to be constructed comprehensively and encompass social, economic and environmental dimensions of sustainability. In order to implement a vision that promotes sustainable rural development, we need to recognise that the preferences of rural residents are fundamentally shaped by the local environment and are therefore highly dependent on the place‐based circumstances.

Anaerobic digestion (AD) plants undoubtedly represent an integral and irreplaceable element in rural energy transition and sustainable waste management. In our study, we focus on an advanced understanding of the dynamics behind the changing perceptions of AD plants in host communities in Poland, Slovakia, and the Czech Republic. The surveyed AD plant case studies were selected to represent best-practice examples of AD plant operations in their countries. By means of a comparative survey in three host communities, we seek to learn more about the shift in perceptions of AD plants between their planning and operational phases. We find that, although our cases are considered best-practice examples of AD plant operations, their overall support in their communities dramatically dropped in the operational phase consequent to real-life experience with living in the neighbourhood of an AD plant. Additionally, our findings indicate that respondents who reported the most severe deterioration of AD plant perceptions were, surprisingly, those who had participated in the planning process more than other respondents. The most frequently mentioned type of participation in the planning phase was reported to be visits to the local administration office to inspect an AD plant's planning documentation. We argue that deteriorating perceptions of best-practice examples of AD plant operations negatively impact the further development and acceptance of the biogas sector in Eastern Europe. The element of acceptance by the locals of AD plant operations urgently requires reflection in the definition of best practices to inspire and upgrade both existing and planned biogas energy projects. ; Ministry of Economy, Industry and Competitiveness; State Research Agency of SpainSpanish Government; Regional Development Fund [CSO2017-86975-R, VEGA 1/0514/21] ; Vedecká Grantová Agentúra MŠVVaŠ SR a SAV, VEGA: 1/0514/21; European Regional Development Fund, ERDF: CSO2017-86975-R; Ministerio de Asuntos Económicos y Transformación Digital, Gobierno de ...